Point of Divergence
by Eye o' the Beholder
Summary: Strong but not OP Naruto fanfic. How will the Naruto verse react when the true inheritor of the will of fire finds a reason to strive for improvement earlier on in his life? i.d.k but we can find out together.


First fanfic ever however my hopes are high. I am typing this on word so the grammar and spelling mistakes should be minimal, but if the mistake is there feel free to let me know in the comments. For now the pairing is undecided but I do have a few ideas in mind, of course feel free to add your choice in the comments as well. P.S I'm immune to fire so flame me all you want but that won't change the fact that this is NOT a harem. I'll try to update weekly, but we'll see how that goes. No I don't plan on letting this Facfic die out

Not an OP fic but there will be noticeable changes in the story. For example Naruto learns the secret to the shadow clone pretty early but will not spam it too much.

Also this story isn't really too big on angst and pity. The villages general outlook on our young hero is more of ignoring him as opposed to the hell his life is portrayed as in many fanfics.

Anyways please read and review. I hope you enjoy.

I don't own Naruto (Duh).

"Talking"

' _Thinking'_

" **Tailed beast / Summon talking"**

' _ **Tailed beast / Summon thinking'**_

12 years after the Kyuubi attack

…

Many years ago in a village hidden far away the sun shone upon a clearing beside a low sitting stone building. Despite the beautiful weather an aspiring ninja sat sad and alone on an old wooden swing hanging from a luscious green tree . The cause of this young blond-haired warrior's distress was for the second time in a row he watched as a class he was in graduate without him.

He sighed as he saw a young bowl headed classmate of his jumping in joy due to being accepted as a gennin. He just couldn't understand why his road to becoming a ninja was so difficult. This year he had managed to scrape by his written and throwing exam however, the clone jutsu kept causing him difficulties. His usually bright blue eyes caught the movement of a chunnin approaching him. His instructor for the academy. Despite starting the year out like all of his other teachers the man had changed his outlook on Naruto sometime throughout the course. For once he finally had an instructor who wouldn't just ignore him. It was this that gave him the motivation to strive harder this year but ,unfortunately , it didn't seem to be enough.

"I'm sorry Naruto-kun but I just can't pass you if you fail the Clone Jutsu " Iruka said with a heavy heart. "There's always next year. Third times the charm right?"

"I'm sorry Iruka-sensei. It just feels like every time I try to use the Clone Jutsu I can't fit enough chakra into it."

' _What does he mean he can't get enough chakra to produce a good clone? I know just how much energy this kid has.'_ "what do you mean you can't supply enough chakra for the jutsu? I've been teaching you for a year. Your energy knows no bounds."

"When I went and asked Mizuki-sensei for help last month with the Clone Jutsu he told me that I wasn't producing enough chakra to use it."

' _What Mizuki is a chunin and a teacher at the academy surely he wouldn't have overlooked something like this right?'_ "Naruto how about you meet me Monday morning at around 8 here at the academy. We'll go over your Clone-Jutsu together while there's a summer break between classes . Alright?"

"Sure thing Iruka-sensei. I'll be there, believe it!"

With that young Naruto took off to go talk with the hokage about his monthly stipend.

Hokage's office

…

"Hiruzen please, listen to reason. The Uchiha boy is only being held back by his classmates. Finding a personal instructor willing to teach him will not be difficult at all and I know that you are planning to pull Kakashi out of anbu soon. What would be better that the last student of the fourth hokage teaching the next great prodigy of the village?" asked an elderly man in robes, who was standing in front of a large wooden desk. Behind which was another not so young man wearing a large hat. The presence of the man behind the desk seemed to radiate kindness and wisdom. However at the moment his tone was stern and serious. With a sigh he turned his chair towards the window behind him. His eyes trained from years of experience glazing over slightly as he looked upon his village.

' _Perhaps him teaching his legacy as opposed to teaching our flight risk.'_ "I'm sorry Homura but the child is a flight risk and we need him to develop bonds with his classmates before he becomes a ninja." Replied the wizened man.

"Very well Hiruzen" replied the last person in the room. An elderly women. She looked as if she wanted to say more however at that moment the door was tossed open by a young boy with blond hair, blue eyes, and who was wearing cargo shorts, sandals, and a simple white T-shirt (the orange jumpsuit was never produced due to an odd factory fire).

"Hey Jiji." Were the first words out of Naruto's mouth before he even took into account who was talking with him. (not that it would've changed anything anyway). The attention was focused quickly to the new arrival. As soon as the Third hokage noticed who it was who had entered the room a smile quickly rose to his face.

"It seems that our meeting will need to continue another time unfortunately." Said the hokage with no small amount of mirth in his voice. They just sighed and left before they had to listen to the overzealous container of the nine tails talk to his "Jiji". "I'm sorry to hear about the results of this year's exams. I'm sure that next year you'll make it Naruto-kun." Naruto's eyes dimmed a little at this. "I'm sorry Jiji it's just I'm having so much difficulty getting the clone jutsu down. Just can't get it right."

He quirked an eyebrow at this _'Of course he is having trouble with this technique. The instructors should know that someone with his condition will have a large chakra capacity and a difficult time controlling it_. _Hmm._ _Even if I can't allow Kakashi to train him personally like he requested perhaps I don't have to leave him out for the wolves on his own. No one would notice anything significant if Iruka were to train Naruto and the shadow clones would be easier for him with his chakra capacity. So long as I can express the importance of not overusing and abusing the jutsu.'_

Naruto saw the Third hokage look at him with a kind smile. "Naruto-kun how about I help you with the Clone jutsu. It wouldn't suit the next hokage of our village to be held up by a single jutsu right?" Immediately Naruto's eyes shone and his smile threatened to break his face. The third looked at his desk which was stacked with paper work with a victorious grin. ' _You can wait until tomorrow. I'm going to secure our village's future.'_ "Follow me Naruto-kun were going to my compound you can of course stay for dinner as well." The portraits of the of the other hokages all seemed to as well. They all saw the Will of Fire still burning brightly in the next generation of ninjas. Sure they each had their own quirks but all great ninjas did.

Sarutobi Compund

…

Standing in the middle of a clearing with his surrogate grandson the "God of Shinobi" was lecturing young Naruto. "Now Naruto I'm not going to be teaching you the clone jutsu but rather an upgraded version of it created by our second hokage. However, before you learn this Jutsu you have to promise me that you won't teach it to anyone without my permission or until you reach jounin. Understood?"

"Yeah, but why? If it's a better version of the clone jutsu why not just teach it at the academy instead?" Questioned Naruto.

"Because this jutsu could be harmful to those who don't have a chakra capacity as large as yours."

"But one of my sensei's told me that I wasn't putting enough chakra into my jutsu's now I have too much? Why can't I get a strait answer?"

The third frowned slightly at this and sighed _'I guess I'm going to need to have someone look into who's been trying to sabotage Naruto's education. Maybe Guy will be a suitable choice.'_ "Don't worry Naruto-kun this won't be very difficult at all for you. It's only handsign is this." He said as he showed a cross fingered seal to Naruto. Immediately afterwards a puff of smoke went off to his side and a perfect replica of him appeared. "Now Naruto I want you to focus a decent amount of chakra and try to disperse it into a few different parts. Okay?" He quickly received an eager nod.

Naruto closed his eyes and concentrated on gathering what felt like the right amount of chakra and split it into four different portions while holding the handsign. As he expelled it all he felt a slight drain on his reserves but also heard a very audible poof erupt around him. When he opened his eyes he saw the proud and slightly dumbfounded face of his surrogate grandfather. _' The first try? Sure they could use a bit of work but otherwise he just learned a kinjutsu like an Uchiha would.'_

When Naruto turned to his side he saw four clones of himself staring back at him strangely when he noticed exactly what he was looking at his eyes widened to epic proportions. As if telepathically communicating he and his clone high fived each other. It then took another few seconds of jumping with joy to realize exactly why these clones were different. They were solid!

"Congratulations Naruto. But now I also need to let you know the secret about these clones and the reason this jutsu can be so dangerous. It is because of the high chakra cost as well as a memory transfer which occurs after dispelling your clone. For example if you were to send a clone to the library and have him read a book then dispel it you would receive the memories of the clone making it to where you got knowledge your clone gained from reading that book. However, be very careful using this technique because of how taxing this can be on your mind. For now I suggest you stick to a max of four clones until you reach genin. Okay?"

"You got it Jiji. Thanks for helping me out. I'm gonna show you that I've got what it takes to be hokage. I'm gonna be rookie of the year this time. Believe it!"

' _I do Naruto. I believe that you have inherited the will of fire'_ Thought the Third with a smile of pride. "Come Naruto-kun we wouldn't want to keep Konohamaru or Asuma waiting on us. Now would we?"

That night the stars shone ever so brightly upon the Village Hidden in the Leaves. That night the next "God of Shinobi" was set on the right path. A difficult one but one that ended in happiness for our young hero.


End file.
